Family . . . gotta love 'em!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

It's been pretty hard emotionally dealing with my son deploying. My family decided that since yesterday was his birthday, and he leaves on Monday, they were going to come up and visit. We are going to have a birthday celebration, take pictures (Clara and I did that last night too) to send to him. IF he is able to call of skype, bonus points! I love my family! Mom, Dad, brother, brother's significant other and my little sister are coming up for lunch today. WooHoo! I'm ready with Sparky recipes!

I take the chicken and addd it to about 8 cups of stock. My family are big eaters so I usually get about 5 lbs. of breast or thigh meat. Put the chicken in cold stock. Bring to boil then let simmer for about 1-1/2 hrs.

You can season it up however you like with onion and/or garlic powder, italian seasonings . . . whatever you like. I sometimes add dill and/or cilantro. The flavors will infuse through the chicken.

Once the meat is cooked remove and let cool so you can handle the meat. Dice the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Season with a little salt and pepper. Set aside. Dice the tomatoes into bite sized pieces. Add this to the chicken. Add the Miracle Whip and the mustard to the chicken and tomatoes. **HINT -- if you want more fiber and crunch, chop up a few stalks of celery. Adds nice color, texture and taste.**

Take this mix and spoon it onto a lettuce leaf. **HINT -- endive works well for this too** Nice portable meal on a leaf! And no bread carbs.

combine sugar and lime or lemon juice in shallow dish. Mix well. Addd 1/2 of the raspberries and mash. Add peach halves, turning to coat. Marinate at room temperature, cut sides down for 30-60 minutes and save the marinade.

Coat the grill or grill pan with the cooking spray.. Place peaches on medium hot grill or grill pan, cut side down. Turn peaches over after two minutes, and cook for another 15 minutes or until tender., basting once with half of the reserved marinade. Remove from grill.

Stir remaining raspberries into remaining marinade adn spoon over peach halves. Serve warm YUMMO! If you want to make it "fancy" put a sprig of mint on top.

one frozen banana (frozen) sliced into chunks (the banana is best with brown spots)

1/4 tsp. of vanilla extract

1/4 cup of Chocolate Soy milk

Take enough frozen banana chunks out of the freezer that would equal a medium banana (I usually cut my bananas into 4 pieces.) Add the vanilla extract and the soy milk. Blend it all to form soft serve ice cream.

You can serve it in a dish and top with a few raspberries. Looks pretty. Or slivered almonds.

LINDAKAY228
I know it is so hard to see your son deployed. My thoughts and prayers will go with him. Sounds like you have planned an awesome day and menu to celebrate his birthday! Hope he gets to check in. You are such a supportive family to him!1891 days ago

MELIVA
So...the evening is almost over; wondering if you hear from DH and if it was via skype (fingers crossed). Hopefully the distraction of visiting family will be good for you. And all that wonderful food, I hope your stomach is feeling better. I do love that pulled pork recipe (use it all the time). I make it even easier...I don't even seer it (doesn't need it); but I do add liquid smoke. Mmmmm.And I'm totally gonna try your banana recipe (but with almond milk; it's a thyroid thing). Wow, does that sound good! Thanks for the recipes...really hope your able to enjoy them.1891 days ago

CLAIREINPARIS How lovely of your family to come to spend time with you today! Very very special! And I do hope John will be able to call on Skype!Tomorrow I am buying bananas to make the dessert recipe. It sounds awesome! Thank you!1892 days ago

IOEINC
So glad to hear your family is coming to you!!! The food sounds wonderful!! Wish I was closer so I could come to (and for reasons other than to eat!) Enjoy the day and I sincerely hope you get to relax!! Happy Birthday to John!! I hope he gets to skype today!! Wishing you the best day ever, my dear friend!!

AUNTB63 for the party....great to get the family together...hope the skype works too. Everything sounds sooooo goooood! I'll be trying the peach raspberry grill soon. I like the way you think....thin and yummy! Have a nice visit with all...1892 days ago